


Misunderstood

by ksrandomme



Series: Educating Sherlock [3]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: BDSM, Dom John Watson, M/M, Post-Reichenbach, Season 3 Didn't Happen, Sherlock Being Sherlock, Sub Sherlock Holmes, Talk of Doms and Subs, The Woman - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-24 01:38:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10731483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ksrandomme/pseuds/ksrandomme
Summary: Sherlock has to follow a suspect into a little known BDSM club, without John. Thank goodness The Woman shows up to save his arse in the nick of time!





	Misunderstood

It was unimaginatively called “Cuffs” and was located on one of the more vapid streets in a rather bland part of London. The building was nondescript and a bit on the side of run down. Sherlock stood across the street in an alleyway that lent shadows to his hiding place. He had come here on a tip pertaining to a rash of burglary cases in the Westminster district. It appeared, according to Lestrade, that all of the victims had an unusual attraction to unique fetishes. Upon investigation of the latest victim’s home, Sherlock deduced that the woman was a dominate who enjoyed bondage with ropes.

His research on the subject led to various paths, but one that caught his eye was Kinbaku-bi, the beauty of tight binding, or as it’s also known Shibari. It was a Japanese style of bondage meant to immobilize the subject in an artful way. From the marks on the victim's body and limbs, Sherlock figured that was a specialty of the burglar’s that might get attention. Maybe even a following in certain clubs.

Sending out his Homeless network to check various clubs around the city, Sherlock soon found that most of the victims had come from one club in particular. Thus, in an effort to find a link and perhaps some evidence that he could bring to Lestrade, Sherlock had decided to visit the place. There was only one small hitch.

John wasn’t with him.

As this was a fact gathering mission, it should have been safe for Sherlock to surreptitiously snoop around the club, watch the people coming and going. But as it began to darken, Sherlock realized that his window of opportunity was shrinking due to there being poor lighting on the street. Now he had two options: A, he could call John and see if he could come back from Harry’s sobriety party early. Or B, he could go into the club on his own, get the information that he could, and leave quickly so that no one would notice that he wasn’t exactly what he appeared.

‘I should text John. He would want me to.’ Sherlock thought as he began to type on his cell phone. The text was simple enough. *In need of your assistance on a burglary case. Come at once to Dover Street. Behind the Mayfair Club. Please forgive me in advance. -- SH*

Once sent, Sherlock looked across the street to the door to “Cuffs” and sighed, regretfully. ‘In and out, Sherlock. No dawdling, now.’ 

Chin up,coat collar pulled out stiff, back straight and eyes forward, Sherlock strode across the street like he owned it and stepped up to the door. He rapped on the door as he had seen many other patrons do and was rewarded with a small window opening in the door, with a pair of dark eyes scanning him up and down.

“Oi, what are you looking for, mate?” growled the voice of the man staring at him. Sherlock already had a decent excuse for why he wanted to be there and he used it now.

“I’m here to meet my partner. He may be inside.”

The eyes scanned him again before the little door closed and the larger door was opened. The large individual standing before him made a motion with his hands and eyed Sherlock’s coat meaningfully. Sherlock unbuttoned the great coat and held the sides open for inspection and sighed as if bored. The sigh was more genuine that he let on, but then the man finally allowed him to enter the club and head for the bar.

He realized within five steps that he had made a grave miscalculation.

‘John will want to kill me for this.’

o-O-o

When John’s mobile began to vibrate in his pocket, he wondered at first who would be texting him? Glancing at the display, he saw that it was Sherlock and opened it.

*In need of your assistance on a burglary case. Come at once to Dover Street. Behind the Mayfair Club. Please forgive me in advance. -- SH*

John thought over the text, trying to picture where on Dover Street Sherlock was talking about. The last time he had been in that part of town was during his University days, before he went to war. He stood by the kitchen of his sister’s flat and thought back to those days. The Mayfair club had been there for decades and he had been there to drink once upon a time. But what not many people knew was, if you went down an alleyway behind the club and made your way past the door to the kitchen of the Mayfair club, there was another place. 

Another door behind Mayfair led to a basement club with no fanfare. No lights, no signage and no way of knowing what the place was unless you had been invited before. John’s first invitation came from a girl at a dorm party he had been at in his second year of school. She was cute and hot and liked to be chained to the bedposts and teased for hours before she was allowed to orgasm. 

She was, by far, the tamest sub that John had ever been introduced to, but she was by no means the last. But she was the first, and she had invited him to go on a date with her to an out of the way place that no one had really heard of outside certain circles.

It was quaintly called “Cuffs”. And it was on Dover street, behind and under the Mayfair club. It was off the books owned by the same people who owned the upper club. But that was not common knowledge. All the electricity, the water, the internet, all of that was run from the club above without anyone knowing. There were a lot of things that went on there that normal people didn’t know about.

And now it looked like Sherlock was there. Not good.

Glancing over to Harry in the midst of her friends, John waved a hand to her and jerked a thumb towards the door. She caught his signal and nodded before excusing herself from her friends and trotted over to him. “That was Himself calling you?” she asked smugly. 

John grinned and nodded, “Yeah. He’s on this burglary case and needs backup, apparently. I was gonna head out about now anyway, if it’s all the same to you.”

Harry smiled, laying a firm and steady hand on his arm. Firm and steady. An entire year of sobriety. He was proud of her. “Okay, don’t be a stranger, yeah?” She opened the front door to the flat and let him out. “I’ll check your blog to see how this one goes?”

John shrugged as he waved to a passing cab. “I dunno, we’ll see.”

The cab stopped and John climbed in, telling the cabbie the address he wanted and waving back to Harry as it sped away. While he rode, he thumbed the speed dial for Lestrade on his phone. Most likely Greg didn’t even know where Sherlock was or how much danger he could be in.

The Ex-Army doctor was going to kill his flatmate when he saw him next.

o-O-o

The club was not packed, but more full than Sherlock would have liked it. There were bodies in various stages of dress everywhere. It wasn’t all that difficult to tell the Doms from the Subs and there were several couples sitting at booths and along the bar. But there were also a few singles, one of which was now eyeing Sherlock openly. 

He was tall, easily as tall as Sherlock himself, blond and staring straight at Sherlock with a smile on his face. Sherlock attempted to ignore the man and headed for the bar with the intention of asking the barkeeper some questions.

The man stepped in his path and raked him up and down with an intense gaze that had Sherlock feeling a bit nervous. He decided to ignore the feeling as well as the man and continued his walk to the bar. He was stopped by the man stepping away from the bar and blocking Sherlock’s continued journey. “Well hello Gorgeous! Who let you slip your leash?” The man clearly thought he was witty, although Sherlock wondered if someone wearing those shoes with that shirt could be called witty.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Sherlock replied coolly. He looked to step around him only to be stopped again by a hand planted in the middle of his chest.

“Oh, you’re a cute one, you are. Looking for a Daddy to show you how it’s done?”

Sherlock was about to turn back and head out of the club, but was brought up short by a hand at his arm and the press of a curvaceous body leaning against his side. “Danny, are you troubling my friend’s pet?”

Sherlock looked to his side and met the eyes of Irene Adler. “I thought you were,” he began, only to be shut down by Irene before he could say anything else.

“You aren’t supposed to think, Pretty boy. You are supposed to do as told, aren’t you?” Irene tutted as she tapped a single finger against his lips. Turning back to ‘Danny’ she smiled and said, “If you don’t mind, I’m sure that Pretty boy’s Master--”

Sherlock interrupted with, “Captain.”

Irene took up the thread without any trouble, “Captain, will be here any minute. Now if you’ll excuse us.”

She led Sherlock around the poleaxed Dom and escorted him to the bar, where she ordered a Martini for herself and a club soda for Sherlock. The jilted Dom turned away from the two as they turned their attention to other things. Sherlock put him completely out of his mind and turned to Irene.

“You were supposed to be in America starting a new life.” He reminded her. She smiled indulgently and rested one elbow on the bar next to her.

“I went, I did start a new life. I just had a few things to clean up here in London and I wanted to stop by this place to say goodbye to it. It was where I got my start, after all.” She sipped her martini and glanced around the room. “Where is the good Doctor? On a date?”

“At his sister’s, but I hope he is on his way. I have the unfortunate duty of informing him that he was, indeed, correct that I knew nothing about this world and I was setting myself for a world of hurt if I came alone.” Sherlock sighed as he sipped the club soda. Irene smirked.

“Poor little Sub. Lucky that I came along, then.” She glanced around the room and settled in for the wait. “I’ll stay until he arrives. And if you need to gather information, I can be your go between for a while.”

Sherlock nodded and reached in his coat pocket. He drew out a chain and John’s dog tags. Irene arched an eyebrow in mock surprise. “Oh, I see. You had planned to wear them if you got into trouble, but you got caught before you could slip them on.”

“Yes, well…” Sherlock slowed to a halt. Irene took the tags from him and waved for him to lean down so she could loop the chain twice around his neck, attaching the connectors to hold the tags close to his throat. He straightened back up and pulled the collar of his coat down. Taking his scarf from his shoulders he slipped it into a pocket and picked up his drink again. “Thank you.”

Irene nodded and went back to her own drink. “So, what are we on to today?”

Sherlock grinned, “Burglary case. I think the suspect picks up his victims here, invites them to try their art skills on him at their own home. He then overpowers them, ties them with their own ropes and then cleans them out of all their valuables.”

Irene raised both eyebrows at this and whistled, “Oh this guy is brazen to take on a Dom in their own home.”

Sherlock nodded, “I’m not sure, but I have to wonder if there aren’t more than one of them, all the evidence shows two sets of heavy footprints. But the shoe impressions are identical and the Techs won’t entertain the idea of a second burglar.”

Irene frowned. It did such bad things to her beauty and Sherlock reached out to wipe the wrinkles away. “I came here to see if someone matched my personal profile. But it was getting dark and I came to the conclusion that it would be better inside the establishment than outside.”

“And walked straight into Daddy Danny. I see. Well, when John gets here I’m sure you will have found the Bait Burglar, who will lead you to the accomplice and you can catch them both, thus showing the Yard once again how brilliant you are.” She sighed, “It’s such a shame we didn’t work out. The things I could have done with that body.”

Sherlock smirked, “Yes, John did explain to me your desires when you and I were sparing wittily. As I’m sure you surmise, your banter went beyond me when we first met.”

Irene grinned wolfishly. “Oh! And now you understand?”

“Not completely, I still have much study and research to attend to. But I have John, and he can help me.”

Irene nodded in understanding, “I am glad you found someone to be with.”

Sherlock frowned, “Be with?”

Irene paused and stared up at him. “Oh my god, you don’t know!”

Sherlock felt even more perplexed. “Know what?”

Irene held up a hand, “No, I can’t tell you. Just know that if you have ever entertained the notion that you might be… well the words ‘In Love’ might not resonate with you, but that’s what John may feel for you. Or hadn’t you noticed?”

Sherlock glared at her, “Preposterous. John is not gay.”

Irene was about to say something when there was a ruckus at the main door of the club. She and Sherlock both turned to see what it was and there stood John. He was breathing a bit hard as he walked over to the bar, staring Irene in the face as he got between her and Sherlock.

“Hello, Dead Woman.” John growled. Irene laughed. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek before looking over his shoulder at Sherlock.

“Tah-tah dear. Tell me how it all goes later. I’ll be back in the states by noon tomorrow.” She turned and sashayed off to another part of the club, her work there complete. John watched her disappear before turning back to his flatmate.

“Mind telling me what that was all about?” John asked. Sherlock opened his mouth to speak, but was caught off track by a bulky man in a g-string and a robe harness talking up a Domme across the room. Sherlock’s eyes narrowed as he calculated for a moment.

“I will. But right now, John, I need Captain Watson to help me follow that mysterious stranger in the rope harness when he has picked his victim so that we can tail him to his accomplice. Look sharp!”

o-O-o

It was hours later, after the burglars had been caught with their last would-be victim, after the statements and the paperwork. After they had arrived home back at the flat and Sherlock had taken off his coat while John stoked the fire in the hearth. John stood up straight and walked over to Sherlock, who was attempting to remove the improvised collar from around his neck.

“Here, let me.” John ordered and Sherlock leaned down so that John could disconnect the ball chain and remove it from around his neck. “I’ll just go put this back up, shall I?”

Sherlock reached out and grasped one of John’s hands. “I did heed your warnings, John. It’s why I brought the tags. I had hoped that if I couldn’t pass as a Dom, as you said, then I might be able to slip them on and use you as…”

“As your Master?” John asked.

“Captain.” Sherlock corrected. John chuckled.

“And that’s where Irene came in?” John asked. Sherlock jerked his head in a short nod. John sighed as he dropped the chain and it’s tags into his trouser pocket. “Well, at least you came out of that relatively unscathed.”

Sherlock scowled, “It was a near thing. I made a mistake, one that will not be made again.” He headed for his bedroom without a backward glance and John sighed.

“So what happened before I got there?” John asked. Sherlock said nothing, simply choosing to close the door and go silent. John straightened a few things in the sitting room. He knew he would get nothing out of the other man until a night of processing and organizing of his Mind Palace. After his quick tidying job, John went upstairs to ready himself for bed. It had been a long night and the morning sun was soon to arrive. Thankfully he didn’t have clinic duty in the morning.

As he reached his bedroom there was a buzzing from his cell phone. He pulled it from his pocket and stared at the unknown number in puzzlement. There was a text. He opened it and read:

*Your Detective told me you wanted to know what happened before you arrived at the club tonight. Shall I tell you? It might be amusing. -- Thewoman*

John read it twice, and smiled. After the second reading, and he had changed into his night clothes for bed, he texted back.

*Amuse me.-- JW*

~end~


End file.
